more…
The building is set back between No’s 7
& 9 Head Street, but ceased to be a Methodist Chapel in 1967.
an
early photograph
The
plaque over the entrance declares that the Chapel was built in October 1839.
However, the Chapel records of 1829 refer to a Goldhanger Methodist Chapel with
100 places of worship and later refer to 60 places. Some of the Goldhanger
Friendly Society founders were preachers at the Chapel and meetings were held
there. Friendly Society Rules of 1876 refer to meetings held "At a certain
meeting place or Wesleyan Chapel".
The
Chapel had fitted pews either side of a central aisle facing a pulpit, which
was raised on a central dais. There was an American made reed organ on the left
and an iron stove on the other side. There was no altar or font. Oil lamps were
used until electricity arrived in the village 1937.
The
Chapel was given a new lease of life when Stanley Wilkin
moved to Bounds Farm, Goldhanger in 1924 and became a ardent supporter and
preacher. "Happy" Sam Ruffles who worked for Mr Wilkin, was also a
preacher. He was the Brass band leader and in the 1940s the Chapel was used by
the Band. Methodist Christenings can be remembered, but weddings and funerals
were held in Maldon. In the 1950s harvest festival services in the Chapel were
followed by sales of produce in the Village Hall. John Wilkin played the organ
as a teenager.
painting
by John Wilkin
The Trustees
Meeting Minutes records that there were just nine remaining members of the
Chapel and "winter services would cease". The Chapel was finally
closed in 1967 and in 1970 it was sold for £100 to the owners of the adjacent
property. At the time, planning permission was sought to demolish the Chapel
and replace it with a butchers shop, but this was refused. The building was unused for
many years, but has now been fully restored and remains part of the adjacent
private residence. In 1993 Maura Benham wrote a
12-page booklet on the history of the chapel from where these notes originate entitled:
The complete booklet is available can be read at…
The
Story of the Chapel in Goldhanger
The British Legion Hall
The British
Legion Hall or Hut was located half way down in Fish Street from the late 1940s
until 1967. Funds raised in the village for residents serving in World War Two were used to purchase the hall after the
troops returned at the end of the conflict. The purchase was supported by a Mr
Lane and Mr. Jack Cohen of Goldhanger Fruit
Farms, Tolleshunt Major, later of TESCO fame. The land which was previously an
orchard was donated by local farmer, Mr Sweetland, and it was handed over to
the Royal British Legion to operate and maintain it. Deeds show that it was
transferred to the Royal British Legion in 1951 from a B Miller, baker, of Fish
St.
In the ten years
immediately after the war, the Goldhanger branch of the Legion had many
enthusiastic supporters. Monthly Catholic services also took place in the hall
and it was used by the sailing club and the youth club. However, later it was
used less and less, as at that time there was also the village hall, parish rooms,
and two pubs. So the British Legion sold it together with the land in 1967 to
builders Wells & Ridgwell of Hazeleigh. The modular construction of the
building meant it could easily taken apart and moved to Purleigh where it
became the Purleigh cricket club pavilion, where it remains.
This photographs
from the 1950s shows the interior of the hut with the Royal British Legion
branch flags displayed with a photograph of the Queen…
The flags
remained in the village for many years after the hut was moved and were hung in
St Peter’s Church, but have long since been passed on to Royal British Legion
HQ.
The Parish Rooms
The original
single “Parish Room” was built in 1906
by the Revd. Frederick Gardner, Rector of Goldhanger
and was located in the grounds of The Parsonage, between No’s 8 & 10 Head
Street. It was originally intended as a reading room for residents. It was
originally known as the Church Room and then as the Parish Hall.
The Parsonage with Parish Room
just to the right The
Parish Room
.
It became know
as the “Parish Rooms” after volunteers built a second small room at the rear to
to accommodate a full size snooker table given to the village by a local
benefactor. After the extension was completed, it was determined that a rear
fire exit was required by law, a door was added but no access was available so
it always opened straight onto a brick wall.
Of the many
functions the Parish Rooms was used for, the following are remembered: Mothers Union, Women’s Institute, Goldhanger
Players, village dances, fire warden centre during WW-2, and the Youth Club.
The Parish Rooms
were outmoded by the building of the new much larger Village Hall (External Links) in 1937 and the Parish Rooms were then
just used as a Youth Club. The land on which Rooms was built was previously a
saw pit, and this accounted for the noticeable and not unattractive lean in
later years, and why it was finally demolished in the 1980.
Petrol Station & Garage
The petrol station occupied two
locations in the centre of the village. Originally it was in The Square
adjacent to Charles Mann’s shop. This photo taken in the
early 1900s shows Charles Mann and his family outside the shop in The Square
with two small signs advertising Shell Motor Spirit…
A few years after this picture was taken
two manual pumps were installed in the wall on the corner, shown here in the
1950s painted blue, the two pumps are still there…
Probably in the 1930s a new filling
station and serving garage was built around the corner in Church Street,
opposite the Church…
The corrugated iron hut used as the
workshop showed all the signs of being a redundant first world war building
typical of those from the Osea Island naval base. The filling station finally
closed in 2009.